TUSSOCK MOTH CATERPILLAR CAMPAIGN 



BY M. M. BURRIS, CITY FORESTER 



DURING the past few years the tussock moth cater- 

 pillar has been doing very much damage to the 

 shade trees of Trenton. Conditions were becoming 

 unbearable. There were not sufficient funds to do any 

 spraying on the street trees and so this pest continued 

 its ravages unrelentlessly. 



There was but one thing to do — to collect and destroy 

 the egg-masses on the cocoons. We followed the same 

 procedure as in our bird house building contest and 

 enlisted the services of the school children in a campaign 



to pick egg- 

 masses, with the 

 hearty co-opera- 

 tion of the Com- 

 missioner of 

 Parks Burk, and 

 Miss Ruth Scott, 

 Director of Na- 



and habits of this pest, the damage done by it and the 

 methods of eradicating it. The children were all inter- 

 ested, and promised to do their bit. The moving picture 

 houses were of great assistance to the cause by showing 

 caterpillar slides, which were prepared by us. 



Through experience in the past, we discovered that 

 prizes form a great incentive to children, and to prove 

 to the children that the citizens of Trenton were actively 

 interested in this campaign, it was decided to have some 

 of the merchants offer prizes. The moving picture houses 

 were first to of- 

 fer prizes. Eight 

 theatres offered 

 three prizes 

 each ; first prize, 

 free admission 

 for a three 

 months' period ; 



THE VICTOR AND SOME OF THE SPOILS 



Kmil Jantz, a pupil of the McClellan School, 

 who ranked highest in the number of individual 

 is collected. 



ture Study in the Public Schools. 



A meeting was called for January 

 28, which was attended by every 

 principal and teacher interested in 

 the preservation of our trees. Com- 

 missioner Burk and I explained the 

 purpose of the meeting and spoke of 

 the destructive work of the tussock moth caterpillar. 

 Enthusiasm prevailed and the teachers and principals 

 pledged their support to this campaign, which was de- 

 cided upon to start on February .10. 



We visited the various schools and spoke to the chil- 

 dren on the tussock moth caterpillar. An excellent 

 set of lantern slides was procured showing the life 



HARD AT WORK 



Pupils of the Harrison School busily engaged col- 

 lecting the cocoons. Paper bags were often used 

 as containers. 



ROOSTING HIGH 



These are some of the boys who worked so en- 

 thusiastically and successfully in Trenton's 

 tussock moth caterpillar campaign. 



second prize, free admission for a 

 period • of two months, and third 

 prize, free admission for a period of 

 one month. In a short time we re- 

 ceived 50 offers of prizes, ranging 

 from a ton of coal to a pair of roller 

 skates. Commissioner Burk also 

 offered bronze and silver buttons to the boys and girls 

 picking upwards of 500 cocoons. 



The campaign started on February 10 and ended on 

 May 1. During this period of less than three months, 

 the total number of cocoons collected amounted to 

 2,961,932. The number of children having picked more 

 than 500 cocoons was 421. Emil Jantz, led with 243,529; 



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